The Beginnings of Swedish Lutheran Church Work in Montana

T H E BEGINNINGS O F SWEDISH
L U T H E R A N C H U R C H WORK IN MONTANA
E M E R O Y J O H N S ON
Montana was not even a name on the map when the
Scandinavian Lutheran Augustana Synod was organized in 1860.
The portion of present-day Montana lying east of the Continental
Divide was in Nebraska Territory, the portion west of the Divide
was in Washington Territory. The region was inhabited by
Indians of various tribes, and a very few white traders and
"Mountain men."
The Swedes and Norwegians who organized the Augustana
Synod l i v e d in the M i d d l e W e s t — I l l i n o i s , Wisconsin,
Minnesota, Iowa, and a few in Indiana and Pennsylvania. The
farthest west congregation was Scandian Grove Lutheran
Church, near St. Peter, Minnesota.1
G o l d was the magnet that drew thousands of people to
Bannack, Virginia City, and Alder Gulch, beginning in 1862. For
a time the region was the classical W i l d West. Later, as the glitter
gradually faded, the discovery of copper at Butte and the
development of agriculture and stock raising attracted a more
permanent sort of settlers. In 1880 the population of Montana
Territory was close to 40,000. It was the year when the Northern
Pacific railroad first reached the eastern border of Montana, four
years after General George A. Custer's inglorious "last stand" at
the Little B i g Horn River, where he and nearly all his men were
killed by the Indians.
The 1880 Census reports show that there were 454
foreign-bom Swedes and Norwegians in Montana Territory, and
179 native-born of Swedish and Norwegian parentage. The total
population of Montana Territory was 39,159. The Swedes and
Norwegians constituted only 1.2 per cent of the population. The
total number of foreign-born whites was 9,487, the Swedes and
Norwegians together constituting five per cent of this total.2
Of the Scandinavians, 117 were engaged in mining, 61 were
laborers, 40 were farmers, 10 were domestic servants. None was
in civil or political office, none was an officer in any industrial or
151
manufacturing concern.3 Every county except Dawson had some
Scandinavians. Deer Lodge County, i n which Anaconda is
located, had the most, 111; Lewis and Clark County (Helena)
had 96; Jefferson 49; Choteau 41; Beaverhead 38, Gallatin 38;
Custer 27; Meagher 25; Madison 21; Missoula 9.4
The Augustana Synod had called Reverend Peter
Carlson—after he had served for 21 years in Minnesota—to go to
the West Coast to look for Swedish settlements. He organized
First Lutheran Church in Portland in 1879 and a beginning was
made in Astoria in 1880 and in Tacoma in 1882. Several other
ministers came to these regions and the work was expanded. But
with only a few hundred Swedes in Montana, an area almost as
large as Sweden, no attempts at missions were begun there at
this time. E r i c Norelius served as mission superintendent on the
West Coast for some months in 1885-1886.5
Norelius had lived at Vasa, Minnesota, since 1856. He had
done pioneer work at Chisago Lake in 1854, had organized
congregations at Vasa and Red Wing in 1855, had been one of the
founders of the Minnesota Conference in 1858, had founded the
first Swedish paper in Minnesota 1857, and had served as
president of the Augustana Synod in 1874-1881.6 In 1882 he
paid a visit to Montana, and this was the first visit by a Swedish
Lutheran clergyman to that Territory. His visit was in the line of
duty in carrying out an assignment given h im by the Minnesota
Conference. At the convention held in February 1882 it was
resolved:
a. That every pastor shall during the year give one
month's service on the mission field, except those who
already are laboring on mission fields.
b. That the Conference president make a public appeal to
the various congregations to assist by this means in the work
of the kingdom of God.
c. That the executive committee arrange the schedules
and notify each pastor as soon as possible when and where
he is to serve and to p u b l i s h the complete preaching
schedule.
d. That the neighboring pastors visit the parishes of those
who are out on their home mission journeys twice during the
month.
e. That the traveling expenses be paid out of the mission
treasury, and that collections for this fund be lifted at
services on the mission fields.7
152
R e v e r e n d E r i c N o r e l i u s.
It became Reverend Norelius' duty to make a journey to
Dakota Territory and in the course of this journey he also visited
Montana. This fact was mentioned in his oral report given at the
next convention of the Conference in 1882.8 In his history of the
Augustana Synod, Norelius gives the following account of the
first Swedish Lutheran services ever held in Montana:
The author was undoubtedly the first Augustana pastor to
visit Montana with the purpose of finding our countrymen
and preaching the Word of God to them. This happened
shortly after Easter, 1882. The Northern Pacific railroad was
then being built through Montana, and it was ready as far as
Fort Keogh, a short distance above Miles City. Mr. Peter
Johnson, the railroad contractor, who at that time had his
home in Bismarck, N . D . , and his brother, John Johnson,
were out there with a crew of thirty Swedes, and there I
stayed a whole week in their camp and held services every
evening. The pulpit consisted of an empty flour barrel,
covered with a buffalo hide, which at night gave good
service as a covering for me in the bunk where I slept. Most
of the men seemed to be glad to hear the Word of God, and
this was no doubt due to the fact that their employers were
God-fearing men, and that they had secured laborers who
were of the same mind. There was, of course, no intention of
establishing a permanent congregation there, but one thing,
at least, was done to further the cause of Christianity among
the railroad workers. A small sum of money was collected
153
and was used for the purchase of a few select books, which
were brought along by the crew as they moved from place to
place along the l i n e of the railroad that was being
constructed.
From Norelius's account and from other available sources it is
impossible to determine the exact date and place of this first
Swedish Lutheran service in Montana. In 1882 Easter was on
A p r i l 9. If Reverend Norelius left his home in Minnesota
immediately after Easter, he could have been in Montana around
April 14 or 15. But it is likely that he made several stops, and
therefore probably was in Montana some time between April 20
and May 10.
The location of the Johnson brothers' camp must have been
somewhere between Forsyth and Columbus. The Bozeman
A v a n t C o u r i e r for April 13, 1882 states that the Northern Pacific
was then completed fifty-five miles west of Miles City, and this is
corroborated by a letter from F. W. DeGuire of the Northern
Pacific Railway to the author. Mr. DeGuire wrote: "We have had
a perusal made of our engineering records in an effort to
cooperate with you to supplement the information you have
gathered. . . . The track, the records show, was laid to Fort
Keogh on November 30, 1881, and to Forsyth on February 28,
1882. The contractors who were stationed out there, if they were
grading contractors, doubtless were located at some point
between Forsyth and Columbus, as grading was being done
along all of that stretch in March and A p r i l , 1882."10
The exact location of Johnson's camp cannot readily be
determined. Mr. John M i c k e l s o n of the Northern Pacific
engineering department in St. Paul found a voucher issued to
John Johnson for work at Barr's Bluff, Montana, in September
1881.1 1 If similar records could be found for 1882, they would
indicate more closely the location of the Johnson camp at the
time of Norelius's visit.
Peter P. Johnson, who may be called a pioneer Lutheran
layman of Montana, was born in Skåne, Sweden, in 1846 and
came to America in 1865, settling first at Litchfield, Minnesota,
where he stayed ten years.1 2 In 1880 he was in Bismarck. Both
Peter P. Johnson and his brother John were charter members of
the Swedish Lutheran Church in Bismarck, which was organized
in January, 1883.1 3 Mr. W. A. Falconer of Bismarck, in a letter to
the author, says: "Peter P. bought property in Bismarck first in
154
June, 1880, and later both of these men invested heavily in lands
during the years 1882 and 1883. They sunk nearly twenty
thousand dollars in lands. They were plungers, and bought lands
at boom prices and when the boom crashed they lost everything
and left Bismarck broke. I knew both of these men very well.
They were church-going men, and in January, 1884, Peter P.
Johnson deeded to the Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Church of
Bismarck four lots as a church site, and the present church stands
on these same lots.1 4 This donation of lots by Mr. Johnson is also
mentioned in E m i l Lund's M i n n e s o t a - k o n f e r e n s e n o c h d e s s
församlingars h i s t o r i a . 1 5
Peter P. Johnson moved to Spokane, Washington, in 1902. He
took an active part in the work of the Salem Lutheran Church of
Spokane and of the Columbia Conference of the Augustana
Synod. He died in 1913.16
Just how Norelius became acquainted with Peter P. Johnson is
not known, but it is possible that he got to know him while he
was living in Litchfield, Minnesota. In the Norelius collection in
the library of Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois, there is
no evidence of any correspondence between Reverend Norelius
and Johnson, but whatever may have been the origin of their
acquaintanceship, the evidence shows that E r i c Norelius was the
P e t e r P. J o h n s o n . ( F r o m Korsbaneret, 1 9 1 6 .)
155
first Lutheran home missionary in Montana and Peter P. Johnson
was instrumental in bringing h im there.
Norelius was enthusiastic about the possibilities for church
work in Montana. In his oral report to the Minnesota Conference
in 1882, he estimated the number of Swedes in Montana as
several thousand.1 7 We have seen that the census of 1880
reported less than 500 Scandinavians i n the territory, and it
seems therefore that Norelius's estimate was too high. But
possibly it was not far from correct. The railroad then being built
brought great numbers of settlers. The Helena W e e k l y H e r a l d for
April 27, 1882 reported: "Monday night the Northern Pacific
took out from St. Paul 29 cars of emigrants, moveables, and stock,
and yesterday as many more, all for the west." Another item in
the same issue says: "The following is from a letter from Gen.
Brisbin dated Fore Keogh A p r i l 16: 'The cry is still, They come. I
never saw such a rush of people westward. A l l trains are loaded
down.'" In the Helena W e e k l y H e r a l d for April 6, 1882, land in
the Prickly Pear Valley was advertised for $2.60 per acre cash
and $3.00 per acre on time.
Norelius was an active participant i n the founding of the
Minnesota Conference (1858) and of two important institutions:
the school which grew to become Gustavus Adolphus College
(1862), and Vasa Children's Home (1865). But it seems that at
heart he was a home missionary, eager to strike out on a journey
to see where he might find new Swedish settlements. We can
well believe that he enjoyed that week with the Swedish railroad
workers in Montana.
He had been sent to Dakota by the Minnesota Conference. His
trip to Montana was probably suggested by Peter P. Johnson,
Naturally, it led Norelius to think of future development in this
vast territory, and that there would be opportunity and need for
home mission efforts. But who could go? The Minnesota
Conference stood almost helpless in the face of its home mission
task. Its field was not only the entire state of Minnesota, but also
parts of northwestern Wisconsin. Congregations had also been
started in the Dakotas in the 1870s.
One report reads as follows: "The Conference mission field is
constantly becoming larger. If the available man power were
increasing to the same extent so that it would be possible to serve
the field, however scantily, with the preaching of the Word of
God and the administering of the sacraments, it would be an
156
R o u t e o f t h e N o r t h e r n Pacific R a i l r o a d a c r o s s t h e G r e a t Plains. ( N o w part of t h e B u r l i n g t o n N o r t h e r n R a i l r o a d . )
occasion for celebrating a feast of joy. But such is not the case.
The stream of immigrants has been unusually large this year.
There were days last spring when 1,000 went through St. Paul.
Many of them, it is true, go to the older settlements and to the
cities, but a very large number go to the unsettled parts in
northwestern Minnesota and D a k o t a . " 1 8
Therefore it is not to be wondered at that the Minnesota
Conference could not extend its activities into Montana after
Norelius's journey into that territory. The next visit by an
Augustana pastor was in 1885, when Reverend Peter Carlson,
missionary pastor on the west coast, stopped at Helena on his
way home from a convention in Rockford, Illinois. He preached
to a couple of dozen Swedes in Montana's capital c i t y . 1 9
In 1890, the year after Montana became a state, there were
3,771 foreign-born Swedes in Montana. Missoula County had the
most, 615, closely followed by Cascade County with 612, and
Lewis and Clark with 611. Deer Lodge County had 549 and
Silver Bow 394. In Missoula County the Swedish element ranked
second among the foreign-born, being exceeded only by the
C a n a d i a n s . 2 0 This proportion was s t i l l the same i n 1930,
according to the census reports for that year.
However, after Reverend Peter Carlson's brief visit in 1885,
there is no further record of any Swedish Lutheran church work
in the state until 1895. This delay was not due to lack of interest
in the field, but a lack of men w i l l i n g to go. In 1894 the Board of
Missions of the Augustana Synod reported as follows:
The Board has not succeeded in getting any missionary
stationed in Montana. We have been issuing calls during the
past year but have not found anyone willing to accept the
call. Since the board has been trying for three years and has
not succeeded in getting any laborers for this field, the board
decided temporarily to cease calling, especially since the
condition of the mission treasury forbids any considerable
aid for this field. However, it is our wish and prayer that the
Lord w i l l soon give us both men and means for aggressive
missionary work among our many countrymen in Montana.
With respect to this report the Synod resolved that the Board of
Missions should continue its efforts to secure a pastor for
Montana and that if no one could be secured by the end of 1894,
a theological student to be ordained at the next Synod
convention, be c a l l e d . 2 1
158
R a i l r o a d b u i l d i n g o n t h e P l a i n s . ( F r o m Harpers Weekly, 1 8 7 5 . C o u r t e s y o f
M i n n e s o t a H i s t o r i c a l S o c i e t y , S t . Paul.)
In 1895 the board was able to report that a pastor had been
secured. Reverend Augustus G. Olson had accepted a call issued
by the board and was already on the field. He was working in
Helena and Butte and had reported to the board that "he
considered the prospects very good and that the people in
general were loyal to the Lutheran faith and that many were
even very churchly-minded."22
A congregation was organized in Helena on November 30,
1895, the first in Montana to be affiliated with the Augustana
Synod. There were 64 communicants and a total membership of
115 at the time of organization. In Butte a more loosely organized
"Church Society" was started on February 1, 1896, with fifty
members who pledged themselves to contribute $25.00 per
month for the salary of the pastor.23
Rev. Olson resigned unexpectedly in August 1896. The Board
of Missions was again faced with the problem of getting a
missionary for Montana. After six calls to as many pastors had
been declined, C. E. Frisk, a theological student, accepted a call
to serve in Montana after his ordination in 1897. The students
A. G. Anderson and W. E. Olson had temporarily maintained the
work in Butte and Anaconda.24
159
Reverend C. E. Frisk arrived i n Helena shortly after his
ordination in June 1897, to try to regain what had been lost
during the vacancy f o l l o w i n g Olson's r e s i g n a t i o n . 2 5 The
following year Reverend A. E . Gustafson arrived in Butte to take
charge of the work there. He also v i s i t e d Anaconda and
Missoula. Both of these towns asked for pastors but the Board d id
not find it possible to accede to these requests at the time.
These new congregations i n Montana organized as a District of
the Augustana Synod, with no connection to a Conference.26
Frisk was the first president of the district and Gustafson was
secretary. With the aid of theological students from time to time,
a number of cities and villages were visited. In addition to the
main stations at Helena, Butte, Anaconda, and Missoula, visits
had been made at Marysville, Livingston, Chestnut, Bozeman,
East Helena, and Hamilton.2 7 As yet organized congregations
existed only i n H e l e n a , Butte, and M i s s o u l a . In 1902 a
congregation was organized in Anaconda. A "church society"
had been i n activity for several years prior to that date. In Great
Falls a congregation was organized in 1905. Other places had
been visited, including Havre, East Butte, Williamsburg, Silver
Bow, Park Basin, E l k Park, Bonner, Belt, Boxelder, Roundup,
Laurel, Lewistown, Neihart, Barber, Billings, Red Lodge, and
O'Brien Settlement. While this indicates great activity, only one
small congregation was organized, in a d d i t i o n to those
mentioned above. Barber, a small village in the Musselshell
Valley had a nucleus of Swedish people who had formerly lived
in Vasa, Minnesota. The congregation was too small to support a
pastor and it was too distant from the larger congregations. It was
eventually transferred to another Lutheran church body. The
only new congregation in recent years is Bethel in Great Falls,
organized i n 1951.
Though it was an Augustana minister who was the first
Swedish Lutheran to preach in Montana, it must be said that the
Synod was slow and late i n the development of congregations.
This seems to have been due mainly to the shortage of ministers
and of funds to support them. Each of the Synod's conferences
was concerned with supplying the needs in its own area. The
Synod's Board of Missions, which supervised the separate
d i s t r i c t s — I n t e r m o u n t a i n ( i n c l u d i n g Idaho and Utah),
Southeastern ( F l o r i d a and Alabama), and the Montana
District—was at a disadvantage in getting pastors to serve in
160
those districts. In most congregations pastoral tenure was short
and vacancies frequent and sometimes long. As a result, growth
in membership was slow. After World War I, Swedish ethnicity
was no longer an important factor but the transition to a more
i n c l u s i v e membership took a l o n g time. In 1930 the six
congregations had a total membership of only 1,108.2 8 When
Augustana became a part of the Lutheran Church in America in
1962, the Montana congregations had a total membership of
4,378.2 9
NOTES
1 A u g u s t a n a S y n o d e n s P r o t o k o l l , 1 8 6 0 , 3, 26, 27; G. Everett Arden, A u g u s t a n a
H e r i t a g e (Rock Island, 111., 1963), 75 ff; Eric Norelius, D e S v e n s k a L u t e r s ka
Församlingarnas o c h S v e n s k a r n e s H i s t o r i a i A m e r i k a , 2 vols. (Rock Island, 111.,
1890, 1916), II, 7-21.
2 Tenth C e n s u s o f U . S . , 1 8 8 0 , 518, 686. In this census Swedes and Norwegians
were not separately classified.
3 Tenth C e n s u s , 888.
4 Tenth C e n s u s , 518.
5 Emil Lund, M i n n e s o t a - k o n f e r e n s e n s o c h d e s s Församlingars H i s t o r i a , 2 vols.
(Rock Island, 111., 1926), I, 39; Norelius, o p . c i t . , 67 ff.
6 Emeroy Johnson, E r i c N o r e l i u s , M i d w e s t P a s t o r a n d C h u r c h m a n (Rock
Island, 111., 1954), 33 ff, 41 ff, 64 ff, 69 ff, 80 ff, 102 ff, 131 ff, 163 ff, 208 ff.
7 M i n n e s o t a - k o n f e r e n s e n s P r o t o k o l l for February 14—21, 1882.
8 A u g u s t a n a o c h Missionären, Nov. 1, 1882, p. 858.
9 Norelius, H i s t o r i a , II, 112-13; cf. O. M. Grimsby, "The Contribution of the
Scandinavians and Germans to the Development of Montana" (Master's thesis,
University of Montana, 1926), 82.
1 0 Manuscript letter under date of January 11, 1934. Mr. DeGuire was
Executive Assistant in the office of the president of the Northern Pacific.
1 1 Letter to the author dated February 6, 1934.
1 2 K o r s b a n e r e t 1 9 1 6 , 101.
1 3 Lund, o p . c i t . , II, 1181.
1 4 Letter to the author, dated February 15, 1934. Further evidence of Peter P.
Johnson's interest in church activity see K o r s b a n e r e t 1 9 1 6 , 191 ff.
1 5 Lund, o p . c i t . II, 1182.
16 K o r s b a n e r e t 1 9 1 6 , 191 ff.
17 A u g u s t a n a o c h Missionären, November 1, 1882, p. 858.
18 O p . c i t . November 1, 1882, p. 785 f.
1 9 Norelius, o p . c i t . II, 113.
2 0 E l e v e n t h C e n s u s o f t h e U . S . , 1 8 9 0 , P o p u l a t i o n I, 641.
2 1 A u g u s t a n a - s y n o d e n s P r o t o k o l l 1 8 9 4 , 50.
2 2 A u g u s t a n a - s y n o d e n s P r o t o k o l l , 1895, 34 f.
2 3 A u g u s t a n a - s y n o d e n s P r o t o k o l l 1896, 34 f.
2 4 A u g u s t a n a - s y n o d e n s P r o t o k o l l , 1897, 39.
2 5 A u g u s t a n a - s y n o d e n s P r o t o k o l l , 1898, 35.
2 6 A u g u s t a n a - s y n o d e n s P r o t o k o l l , 1899, 37 f.
2 7 A u g u s t a n a - s y n o d e n s P r o t o k o l l , 1900, 33 f.
2 8 A u g u s t a n a S y n o d R e p o r t s , 1930, Statistical reports (unpaginated).
2 9 A u g u s t a n a L u t h e r a n C h u r c h R e p o r t s , 1962, 468.
An earlier version of this article appeared under this title in the A u g u s t a n a
Q u a r t e r l y , 17 (1938), 243-50.
161

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T H E BEGINNINGS O F SWEDISH
L U T H E R A N C H U R C H WORK IN MONTANA
E M E R O Y J O H N S ON
Montana was not even a name on the map when the
Scandinavian Lutheran Augustana Synod was organized in 1860.
The portion of present-day Montana lying east of the Continental
Divide was in Nebraska Territory, the portion west of the Divide
was in Washington Territory. The region was inhabited by
Indians of various tribes, and a very few white traders and
"Mountain men."
The Swedes and Norwegians who organized the Augustana
Synod l i v e d in the M i d d l e W e s t — I l l i n o i s , Wisconsin,
Minnesota, Iowa, and a few in Indiana and Pennsylvania. The
farthest west congregation was Scandian Grove Lutheran
Church, near St. Peter, Minnesota.1
G o l d was the magnet that drew thousands of people to
Bannack, Virginia City, and Alder Gulch, beginning in 1862. For
a time the region was the classical W i l d West. Later, as the glitter
gradually faded, the discovery of copper at Butte and the
development of agriculture and stock raising attracted a more
permanent sort of settlers. In 1880 the population of Montana
Territory was close to 40,000. It was the year when the Northern
Pacific railroad first reached the eastern border of Montana, four
years after General George A. Custer's inglorious "last stand" at
the Little B i g Horn River, where he and nearly all his men were
killed by the Indians.
The 1880 Census reports show that there were 454
foreign-bom Swedes and Norwegians in Montana Territory, and
179 native-born of Swedish and Norwegian parentage. The total
population of Montana Territory was 39,159. The Swedes and
Norwegians constituted only 1.2 per cent of the population. The
total number of foreign-born whites was 9,487, the Swedes and
Norwegians together constituting five per cent of this total.2
Of the Scandinavians, 117 were engaged in mining, 61 were
laborers, 40 were farmers, 10 were domestic servants. None was
in civil or political office, none was an officer in any industrial or
151
manufacturing concern.3 Every county except Dawson had some
Scandinavians. Deer Lodge County, i n which Anaconda is
located, had the most, 111; Lewis and Clark County (Helena)
had 96; Jefferson 49; Choteau 41; Beaverhead 38, Gallatin 38;
Custer 27; Meagher 25; Madison 21; Missoula 9.4
The Augustana Synod had called Reverend Peter
Carlson—after he had served for 21 years in Minnesota—to go to
the West Coast to look for Swedish settlements. He organized
First Lutheran Church in Portland in 1879 and a beginning was
made in Astoria in 1880 and in Tacoma in 1882. Several other
ministers came to these regions and the work was expanded. But
with only a few hundred Swedes in Montana, an area almost as
large as Sweden, no attempts at missions were begun there at
this time. E r i c Norelius served as mission superintendent on the
West Coast for some months in 1885-1886.5
Norelius had lived at Vasa, Minnesota, since 1856. He had
done pioneer work at Chisago Lake in 1854, had organized
congregations at Vasa and Red Wing in 1855, had been one of the
founders of the Minnesota Conference in 1858, had founded the
first Swedish paper in Minnesota 1857, and had served as
president of the Augustana Synod in 1874-1881.6 In 1882 he
paid a visit to Montana, and this was the first visit by a Swedish
Lutheran clergyman to that Territory. His visit was in the line of
duty in carrying out an assignment given h im by the Minnesota
Conference. At the convention held in February 1882 it was
resolved:
a. That every pastor shall during the year give one
month's service on the mission field, except those who
already are laboring on mission fields.
b. That the Conference president make a public appeal to
the various congregations to assist by this means in the work
of the kingdom of God.
c. That the executive committee arrange the schedules
and notify each pastor as soon as possible when and where
he is to serve and to p u b l i s h the complete preaching
schedule.
d. That the neighboring pastors visit the parishes of those
who are out on their home mission journeys twice during the
month.
e. That the traveling expenses be paid out of the mission
treasury, and that collections for this fund be lifted at
services on the mission fields.7
152
R e v e r e n d E r i c N o r e l i u s.
It became Reverend Norelius' duty to make a journey to
Dakota Territory and in the course of this journey he also visited
Montana. This fact was mentioned in his oral report given at the
next convention of the Conference in 1882.8 In his history of the
Augustana Synod, Norelius gives the following account of the
first Swedish Lutheran services ever held in Montana:
The author was undoubtedly the first Augustana pastor to
visit Montana with the purpose of finding our countrymen
and preaching the Word of God to them. This happened
shortly after Easter, 1882. The Northern Pacific railroad was
then being built through Montana, and it was ready as far as
Fort Keogh, a short distance above Miles City. Mr. Peter
Johnson, the railroad contractor, who at that time had his
home in Bismarck, N . D . , and his brother, John Johnson,
were out there with a crew of thirty Swedes, and there I
stayed a whole week in their camp and held services every
evening. The pulpit consisted of an empty flour barrel,
covered with a buffalo hide, which at night gave good
service as a covering for me in the bunk where I slept. Most
of the men seemed to be glad to hear the Word of God, and
this was no doubt due to the fact that their employers were
God-fearing men, and that they had secured laborers who
were of the same mind. There was, of course, no intention of
establishing a permanent congregation there, but one thing,
at least, was done to further the cause of Christianity among
the railroad workers. A small sum of money was collected
153
and was used for the purchase of a few select books, which
were brought along by the crew as they moved from place to
place along the l i n e of the railroad that was being
constructed.
From Norelius's account and from other available sources it is
impossible to determine the exact date and place of this first
Swedish Lutheran service in Montana. In 1882 Easter was on
A p r i l 9. If Reverend Norelius left his home in Minnesota
immediately after Easter, he could have been in Montana around
April 14 or 15. But it is likely that he made several stops, and
therefore probably was in Montana some time between April 20
and May 10.
The location of the Johnson brothers' camp must have been
somewhere between Forsyth and Columbus. The Bozeman
A v a n t C o u r i e r for April 13, 1882 states that the Northern Pacific
was then completed fifty-five miles west of Miles City, and this is
corroborated by a letter from F. W. DeGuire of the Northern
Pacific Railway to the author. Mr. DeGuire wrote: "We have had
a perusal made of our engineering records in an effort to
cooperate with you to supplement the information you have
gathered. . . . The track, the records show, was laid to Fort
Keogh on November 30, 1881, and to Forsyth on February 28,
1882. The contractors who were stationed out there, if they were
grading contractors, doubtless were located at some point
between Forsyth and Columbus, as grading was being done
along all of that stretch in March and A p r i l , 1882."10
The exact location of Johnson's camp cannot readily be
determined. Mr. John M i c k e l s o n of the Northern Pacific
engineering department in St. Paul found a voucher issued to
John Johnson for work at Barr's Bluff, Montana, in September
1881.1 1 If similar records could be found for 1882, they would
indicate more closely the location of the Johnson camp at the
time of Norelius's visit.
Peter P. Johnson, who may be called a pioneer Lutheran
layman of Montana, was born in Skåne, Sweden, in 1846 and
came to America in 1865, settling first at Litchfield, Minnesota,
where he stayed ten years.1 2 In 1880 he was in Bismarck. Both
Peter P. Johnson and his brother John were charter members of
the Swedish Lutheran Church in Bismarck, which was organized
in January, 1883.1 3 Mr. W. A. Falconer of Bismarck, in a letter to
the author, says: "Peter P. bought property in Bismarck first in
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June, 1880, and later both of these men invested heavily in lands
during the years 1882 and 1883. They sunk nearly twenty
thousand dollars in lands. They were plungers, and bought lands
at boom prices and when the boom crashed they lost everything
and left Bismarck broke. I knew both of these men very well.
They were church-going men, and in January, 1884, Peter P.
Johnson deeded to the Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Church of
Bismarck four lots as a church site, and the present church stands
on these same lots.1 4 This donation of lots by Mr. Johnson is also
mentioned in E m i l Lund's M i n n e s o t a - k o n f e r e n s e n o c h d e s s
församlingars h i s t o r i a . 1 5
Peter P. Johnson moved to Spokane, Washington, in 1902. He
took an active part in the work of the Salem Lutheran Church of
Spokane and of the Columbia Conference of the Augustana
Synod. He died in 1913.16
Just how Norelius became acquainted with Peter P. Johnson is
not known, but it is possible that he got to know him while he
was living in Litchfield, Minnesota. In the Norelius collection in
the library of Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois, there is
no evidence of any correspondence between Reverend Norelius
and Johnson, but whatever may have been the origin of their
acquaintanceship, the evidence shows that E r i c Norelius was the
P e t e r P. J o h n s o n . ( F r o m Korsbaneret, 1 9 1 6 .)
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first Lutheran home missionary in Montana and Peter P. Johnson
was instrumental in bringing h im there.
Norelius was enthusiastic about the possibilities for church
work in Montana. In his oral report to the Minnesota Conference
in 1882, he estimated the number of Swedes in Montana as
several thousand.1 7 We have seen that the census of 1880
reported less than 500 Scandinavians i n the territory, and it
seems therefore that Norelius's estimate was too high. But
possibly it was not far from correct. The railroad then being built
brought great numbers of settlers. The Helena W e e k l y H e r a l d for
April 27, 1882 reported: "Monday night the Northern Pacific
took out from St. Paul 29 cars of emigrants, moveables, and stock,
and yesterday as many more, all for the west." Another item in
the same issue says: "The following is from a letter from Gen.
Brisbin dated Fore Keogh A p r i l 16: 'The cry is still, They come. I
never saw such a rush of people westward. A l l trains are loaded
down.'" In the Helena W e e k l y H e r a l d for April 6, 1882, land in
the Prickly Pear Valley was advertised for $2.60 per acre cash
and $3.00 per acre on time.
Norelius was an active participant i n the founding of the
Minnesota Conference (1858) and of two important institutions:
the school which grew to become Gustavus Adolphus College
(1862), and Vasa Children's Home (1865). But it seems that at
heart he was a home missionary, eager to strike out on a journey
to see where he might find new Swedish settlements. We can
well believe that he enjoyed that week with the Swedish railroad
workers in Montana.
He had been sent to Dakota by the Minnesota Conference. His
trip to Montana was probably suggested by Peter P. Johnson,
Naturally, it led Norelius to think of future development in this
vast territory, and that there would be opportunity and need for
home mission efforts. But who could go? The Minnesota
Conference stood almost helpless in the face of its home mission
task. Its field was not only the entire state of Minnesota, but also
parts of northwestern Wisconsin. Congregations had also been
started in the Dakotas in the 1870s.
One report reads as follows: "The Conference mission field is
constantly becoming larger. If the available man power were
increasing to the same extent so that it would be possible to serve
the field, however scantily, with the preaching of the Word of
God and the administering of the sacraments, it would be an
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R o u t e o f t h e N o r t h e r n Pacific R a i l r o a d a c r o s s t h e G r e a t Plains. ( N o w part of t h e B u r l i n g t o n N o r t h e r n R a i l r o a d . )
occasion for celebrating a feast of joy. But such is not the case.
The stream of immigrants has been unusually large this year.
There were days last spring when 1,000 went through St. Paul.
Many of them, it is true, go to the older settlements and to the
cities, but a very large number go to the unsettled parts in
northwestern Minnesota and D a k o t a . " 1 8
Therefore it is not to be wondered at that the Minnesota
Conference could not extend its activities into Montana after
Norelius's journey into that territory. The next visit by an
Augustana pastor was in 1885, when Reverend Peter Carlson,
missionary pastor on the west coast, stopped at Helena on his
way home from a convention in Rockford, Illinois. He preached
to a couple of dozen Swedes in Montana's capital c i t y . 1 9
In 1890, the year after Montana became a state, there were
3,771 foreign-born Swedes in Montana. Missoula County had the
most, 615, closely followed by Cascade County with 612, and
Lewis and Clark with 611. Deer Lodge County had 549 and
Silver Bow 394. In Missoula County the Swedish element ranked
second among the foreign-born, being exceeded only by the
C a n a d i a n s . 2 0 This proportion was s t i l l the same i n 1930,
according to the census reports for that year.
However, after Reverend Peter Carlson's brief visit in 1885,
there is no further record of any Swedish Lutheran church work
in the state until 1895. This delay was not due to lack of interest
in the field, but a lack of men w i l l i n g to go. In 1894 the Board of
Missions of the Augustana Synod reported as follows:
The Board has not succeeded in getting any missionary
stationed in Montana. We have been issuing calls during the
past year but have not found anyone willing to accept the
call. Since the board has been trying for three years and has
not succeeded in getting any laborers for this field, the board
decided temporarily to cease calling, especially since the
condition of the mission treasury forbids any considerable
aid for this field. However, it is our wish and prayer that the
Lord w i l l soon give us both men and means for aggressive
missionary work among our many countrymen in Montana.
With respect to this report the Synod resolved that the Board of
Missions should continue its efforts to secure a pastor for
Montana and that if no one could be secured by the end of 1894,
a theological student to be ordained at the next Synod
convention, be c a l l e d . 2 1
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R a i l r o a d b u i l d i n g o n t h e P l a i n s . ( F r o m Harpers Weekly, 1 8 7 5 . C o u r t e s y o f
M i n n e s o t a H i s t o r i c a l S o c i e t y , S t . Paul.)
In 1895 the board was able to report that a pastor had been
secured. Reverend Augustus G. Olson had accepted a call issued
by the board and was already on the field. He was working in
Helena and Butte and had reported to the board that "he
considered the prospects very good and that the people in
general were loyal to the Lutheran faith and that many were
even very churchly-minded."22
A congregation was organized in Helena on November 30,
1895, the first in Montana to be affiliated with the Augustana
Synod. There were 64 communicants and a total membership of
115 at the time of organization. In Butte a more loosely organized
"Church Society" was started on February 1, 1896, with fifty
members who pledged themselves to contribute $25.00 per
month for the salary of the pastor.23
Rev. Olson resigned unexpectedly in August 1896. The Board
of Missions was again faced with the problem of getting a
missionary for Montana. After six calls to as many pastors had
been declined, C. E. Frisk, a theological student, accepted a call
to serve in Montana after his ordination in 1897. The students
A. G. Anderson and W. E. Olson had temporarily maintained the
work in Butte and Anaconda.24
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Reverend C. E. Frisk arrived i n Helena shortly after his
ordination in June 1897, to try to regain what had been lost
during the vacancy f o l l o w i n g Olson's r e s i g n a t i o n . 2 5 The
following year Reverend A. E . Gustafson arrived in Butte to take
charge of the work there. He also v i s i t e d Anaconda and
Missoula. Both of these towns asked for pastors but the Board d id
not find it possible to accede to these requests at the time.
These new congregations i n Montana organized as a District of
the Augustana Synod, with no connection to a Conference.26
Frisk was the first president of the district and Gustafson was
secretary. With the aid of theological students from time to time,
a number of cities and villages were visited. In addition to the
main stations at Helena, Butte, Anaconda, and Missoula, visits
had been made at Marysville, Livingston, Chestnut, Bozeman,
East Helena, and Hamilton.2 7 As yet organized congregations
existed only i n H e l e n a , Butte, and M i s s o u l a . In 1902 a
congregation was organized in Anaconda. A "church society"
had been i n activity for several years prior to that date. In Great
Falls a congregation was organized in 1905. Other places had
been visited, including Havre, East Butte, Williamsburg, Silver
Bow, Park Basin, E l k Park, Bonner, Belt, Boxelder, Roundup,
Laurel, Lewistown, Neihart, Barber, Billings, Red Lodge, and
O'Brien Settlement. While this indicates great activity, only one
small congregation was organized, in a d d i t i o n to those
mentioned above. Barber, a small village in the Musselshell
Valley had a nucleus of Swedish people who had formerly lived
in Vasa, Minnesota. The congregation was too small to support a
pastor and it was too distant from the larger congregations. It was
eventually transferred to another Lutheran church body. The
only new congregation in recent years is Bethel in Great Falls,
organized i n 1951.
Though it was an Augustana minister who was the first
Swedish Lutheran to preach in Montana, it must be said that the
Synod was slow and late i n the development of congregations.
This seems to have been due mainly to the shortage of ministers
and of funds to support them. Each of the Synod's conferences
was concerned with supplying the needs in its own area. The
Synod's Board of Missions, which supervised the separate
d i s t r i c t s — I n t e r m o u n t a i n ( i n c l u d i n g Idaho and Utah),
Southeastern ( F l o r i d a and Alabama), and the Montana
District—was at a disadvantage in getting pastors to serve in
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those districts. In most congregations pastoral tenure was short
and vacancies frequent and sometimes long. As a result, growth
in membership was slow. After World War I, Swedish ethnicity
was no longer an important factor but the transition to a more
i n c l u s i v e membership took a l o n g time. In 1930 the six
congregations had a total membership of only 1,108.2 8 When
Augustana became a part of the Lutheran Church in America in
1962, the Montana congregations had a total membership of
4,378.2 9
NOTES
1 A u g u s t a n a S y n o d e n s P r o t o k o l l , 1 8 6 0 , 3, 26, 27; G. Everett Arden, A u g u s t a n a
H e r i t a g e (Rock Island, 111., 1963), 75 ff; Eric Norelius, D e S v e n s k a L u t e r s ka
Församlingarnas o c h S v e n s k a r n e s H i s t o r i a i A m e r i k a , 2 vols. (Rock Island, 111.,
1890, 1916), II, 7-21.
2 Tenth C e n s u s o f U . S . , 1 8 8 0 , 518, 686. In this census Swedes and Norwegians
were not separately classified.
3 Tenth C e n s u s , 888.
4 Tenth C e n s u s , 518.
5 Emil Lund, M i n n e s o t a - k o n f e r e n s e n s o c h d e s s Församlingars H i s t o r i a , 2 vols.
(Rock Island, 111., 1926), I, 39; Norelius, o p . c i t . , 67 ff.
6 Emeroy Johnson, E r i c N o r e l i u s , M i d w e s t P a s t o r a n d C h u r c h m a n (Rock
Island, 111., 1954), 33 ff, 41 ff, 64 ff, 69 ff, 80 ff, 102 ff, 131 ff, 163 ff, 208 ff.
7 M i n n e s o t a - k o n f e r e n s e n s P r o t o k o l l for February 14—21, 1882.
8 A u g u s t a n a o c h Missionären, Nov. 1, 1882, p. 858.
9 Norelius, H i s t o r i a , II, 112-13; cf. O. M. Grimsby, "The Contribution of the
Scandinavians and Germans to the Development of Montana" (Master's thesis,
University of Montana, 1926), 82.
1 0 Manuscript letter under date of January 11, 1934. Mr. DeGuire was
Executive Assistant in the office of the president of the Northern Pacific.
1 1 Letter to the author dated February 6, 1934.
1 2 K o r s b a n e r e t 1 9 1 6 , 101.
1 3 Lund, o p . c i t . , II, 1181.
1 4 Letter to the author, dated February 15, 1934. Further evidence of Peter P.
Johnson's interest in church activity see K o r s b a n e r e t 1 9 1 6 , 191 ff.
1 5 Lund, o p . c i t . II, 1182.
16 K o r s b a n e r e t 1 9 1 6 , 191 ff.
17 A u g u s t a n a o c h Missionären, November 1, 1882, p. 858.
18 O p . c i t . November 1, 1882, p. 785 f.
1 9 Norelius, o p . c i t . II, 113.
2 0 E l e v e n t h C e n s u s o f t h e U . S . , 1 8 9 0 , P o p u l a t i o n I, 641.
2 1 A u g u s t a n a - s y n o d e n s P r o t o k o l l 1 8 9 4 , 50.
2 2 A u g u s t a n a - s y n o d e n s P r o t o k o l l , 1895, 34 f.
2 3 A u g u s t a n a - s y n o d e n s P r o t o k o l l 1896, 34 f.
2 4 A u g u s t a n a - s y n o d e n s P r o t o k o l l , 1897, 39.
2 5 A u g u s t a n a - s y n o d e n s P r o t o k o l l , 1898, 35.
2 6 A u g u s t a n a - s y n o d e n s P r o t o k o l l , 1899, 37 f.
2 7 A u g u s t a n a - s y n o d e n s P r o t o k o l l , 1900, 33 f.
2 8 A u g u s t a n a S y n o d R e p o r t s , 1930, Statistical reports (unpaginated).
2 9 A u g u s t a n a L u t h e r a n C h u r c h R e p o r t s , 1962, 468.
An earlier version of this article appeared under this title in the A u g u s t a n a
Q u a r t e r l y , 17 (1938), 243-50.
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